Become an Investor

Guide to Trading on the QSE

Understanding the basics is important when it comes to trading with confidence on Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE). Equally so, investing wisely on QSE requires information and education. The guide below will aid the investor on the essentials of trading shares on QSE. To get started, select one of the topics below. To familiarize yourself with all of the terminology, we recommend you checking our Glossary section.

If you are Qatari or Non-Qatari, resident or non-resident in Qatar, you can be part of the Qatari economy, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, by trading securities listed on QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE (QSE).

To get started you need to open a trading account with one of our member brokerage firms, who will act as your financial intermediary for all your trading activities on QSE. At present, QSE has 7 licensed stockbroker firms. To begin trading on QSE, it is also mandatory for a potential investor, whether an individual (local or foreign), a company or any other establishments, to get registered at Qatar Central Securities Depository. For complete instructions on how to register, click on How to Open a NIN Account.

Once you are registered with the Qatar Central Securities Depository and have chosen a stockbroker, you can trade with confidence on QSE. It is crucial, once you decided to sell or buy securities, to provide your broker with precise and complete instructions in order for your broker to execute your transaction properly and on a timely manner. When giving a buy or sell orders to your broker, either online or through call center, you must specify the following minimum requirements:

• The name of the company in which you want to invest
• The price per share at which you are willing to buy
• The number of shares you wish to buy

Once your transaction (buying/selling) is complete, your broker will send you a notification on the date of execution. You can obtain a Statement of Account which reflects all of your brokerage activities. Your brokerage firm will request payment for any buy transactions before order execution. If you are selling shares, your broker will issue a check after the date of sale.

As an investor, you can monitor the performance of your investment portfolio regularly. QSE offers several ways for monitoring the performance of your investment. You can stay informed either in real time, by viewing real prices on the QSE website, or by obtaining delayed information utilizing the below options:

• Access stock prices movements via computer terminals at any time.
• Obtain share prices on local daily newspapers
• View our daily, weekly, monthly and yearly bulletin and publication on our website
• Review the listed company’s quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports
• Monitor the QSE Index on a regular basis as the index reflects the overall market performance

Stocks (also referred to as equity or shares) represent ownership in a company with specific rights, including the ability to “share” in the profits of the company. Some of the advantages of owning stocks are:

• Receiving dividends i.e. Cash and/or Stock dividends
• Long-Term Growth (Potential price appreciation/capital gain)
• Liquidity (can be converted into cash easily)
• Low transaction costs (low cost compared to other investment vehicles)
• No Taxes
• Risk can be diversified (allocation of your portfolio among different stocks and/or sectors will reduce the overall risk of your portfolio)

Every type of investment vehicle carries a certain degree of risk. The degree of risk differs from investment to investment. The risk involved in investing in stocks can be classified into two main categories:

• Systematic Risk (market related risk or undiversifiable risk)
• Unsystematic Risk (specific risk or diversifiable risk)

The total cost of trading shares includes brokerage commission and fees for any additional services. For a complete list of fees, please contact your brokerage firm for details.